Xiaomi launches Mi 5c phone with in-house 8-core Surge S1 processor

Xiaomi, on Tuesday, became only the fourth smartphone manufacturer in the world – and second in China — to have built a chipset designed and developed in-house. Xiaomi’s home-brewed mobile CPU, called the Surge S1, is an octa-core 64-bit processor (2.2GHz quad-core A53 + 1.4GHz quad-core A53) that runs up to 2.2GHz at max frequency. The first Xiaomi phone to be powered by its new chipset is the long rumoured Mi 5c which seems to be some kind of variant of the company’s flagship Mi 5.

Built on the 28nm High Performance Computing (HPC) process, Xiaomi’s Surge S1 CPU comes with a Mali-T860 quad-core GPU and a 14-bit dual ISP for “enhanced image processing capabilities.” The chipset scores an Antutu score of 64,817, notes the company. Moreover, the Surge ISP algorithm inside is claimed to improve camera light sensitivity by 150 per cent to achieve better low light photos.

As for the Mi 5c, Xiaomi’s new phone comes with an all-metal body — 132g and 7.09mm in thickness – and a 5.15-inch display with 550-nit brightness. It comes with 3GB of RAM and 64GB of internal memory. It sports a 12-megapixel camera on the rear with 1.25 micron ‘large’ pixel size along with an 8-megapixel front-facing camera and a 2,860mAh battery with support for 9V/2A fast charging. The Mi 5c will be available for buying in China at a price of RMB 1,499.

The Surge S1 and the Mi 5c were accompanied by a second smartphone, called the Redmi 4X, which comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor and a 4,100mAh battery. The Redmi 4X will be offered in two versions: 2GB RAM and 16GB memory for 699 RMB and 3GB RAM and 32GB memory for 899 RMB. The 4X further comes with a 5-inch screen with curved 2.5D glass on the front.